Here’s a guy who needs a little motivation to stay fit. So he takes a Wi-Fi-enabled FitBit Tracker that logs activity, and ties it to the refrigerator via a Wi-Fi-enabled Belkin WeMo switch.

If certain exercise thresholds are not met, the FitBit warns the slacker a few times. And if he doesn’t get off his butt, the system relays a message via the Internet/home network to the WeMo switch.

The switch controls power to the refrigerator and will turn the thing off to punish the guy, spoiling the food and forcing him to look, say, in the pantry for something to eat.

While the WeMo switch is meant to be controlled via Belkin’s own iOS (and soon Android) app, there is an open protocol that enables third-party developers to integrate the IP-enabled device into a broader ecosystem.

He writes:

All I needed then was a service to monitor my Fitbit account and my activity that would also turn on/off the switch. For this I built a webscript that checks my daily activity through the Fitbit API. Every evening it will check for the total steps tracked by the Fitbit device. If my activity is below some threshold it gives me a warning email first. Then it checks again within 1 hour and if the threshold is still not met it shuts down the Wemo. It will recheck every 1 hour then and will turn on the switch in case I have made enough steps!

This is geekness and fitness to the extreme, but nonetheless a great illustration of the power of the Internet of Things.

Julie Jacobson, recipient of the 2014 CEA TechHome Leadership Award, is co-founder of EH Publishing, producer of CE Pro, Electronic House, Commercial Integrator, Security Sales and other leading technology publications. She currently spends most of her time writing for CE Pro in the areas of home automation, security, networked A/V and the business of home systems integration. Julie majored in Economics at the University of Michigan, spent a year abroad at Cambridge University, earned an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin, and has never taken a journalism class in her life. She's a washed-up Ultimate Frisbee player currently residing in Carlsbad, Calif. Email Julie at [email protected]